System and apparatus of automatic elevation and lateral direction of one or more guns.



F. ANDERSEN. V SYSTEM AND APPARATUS 0F AUTOMATIC ELE ON AND LATERALDIRECTION OF ONE OR MORE u s. 4 APPLICATION FILED APR. 29. 1912.

1,167,247, Patented Jan. 4, 1916.

T SSHEETS-SHEEI: T.

F. AN 8 SYSTEM AND APPARATUS 0 F AUTOMATIC A AND LATERAL DIRECTION OFONE OR MORE GUNS. APPLICATION FILED APR- 29I 1912- 1,167,247, PatentedJan. 4, 1916.

5 SHEETSSHEET 2.

I I I l F. ANDERSEN. SYSTEM AND APPARATUS 0F AUTOMATIC ELEVATION ANOLATERAL DIRECTION OF ONE OR MORE GUNS. 1,167,247.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 29, I912.

Patented Jan. 4, 1916.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

F. ANDERSEN. SYSTEM AND APPARATUS 0F AUTOMATIC ELEVATION AND LATERALDIRECTION OF ONE OR MORE GUNS. APPLICATION FILED APR. 29, I9I2.

1,167.247. Patented Jan. 4, 1916.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

F. ANDERSEN. SYSTEM AND APPARATUS OF AUTOMATIC ELEVATION ANDLATERALDIRECTION OF ONE 7 OR MORE GUNS. APPLICATION FILED APR. 29. 1912.

1,167,247, Patented Jan. 4, 1916.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

igH i I llllllllll 'll llllllllll w a v 7 :I g I f; g}? 1 I 0 g mmunraov 'ANDERSEN, or Ha eem, NEAR 'roNsBEne, NORWAY;

SYSTEM AND APPARATUS OI AUTOMATIC ELEVATION AND-LATEB A 'L.DIRECTION 01one on MORE GUNS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

P tented-Jan. 4,1916.

Application filed April 29, 1912. Serial No. 69;,847. V I e f To allwhom it may concern:

' Be it known that'I, FRIDTJOV ANDERSEN, a subject of the King ofNorway, residing at Haaiien, near Tonsberg, Norway, have inventedcertain. new and. useful Improvements in Systems and Apparatus ofAutomatic Elevation and Lateral Direction of One or More Guns; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to range finding and automatic sighting and gunlaying systems and apparatus, and refers to arrangements in which a gunor more than one gun may be properly elevated and traversed from onepoint or more than one point, which points may have any positionsrelatively to the gun and to each other.

The improved system which comprises synchronously running motors, orsynchronously moved members controlled by contact devices, the durationof contact between which contact devices is controlled by the sightingapparatus which may be situated at a point or points distant from thegun, is distinguished by the fact that angular movement of oneobservation bar, or the relative angular movement of two observationbars respectively, which are moved by the sighting apparatus results inangular and longitudinal movements at a central station of a bar or barscorresponding in number and disposition to the sighting apparatus andalso of a bar or bars corresponding in number and disposition to the gunor guns, the bars correspondin to the guns and telescopes being pivotaly connected at a point and made slidable over fixed points, thepositions of which latter corres 0nd to the geographical positions ofthe te escopes and guns. The synchronous motors controlled as aforesaid,cause the angular movements of the telescopes to be communicated to thecorresponding bars at the central station and also the consequentangular motion of the bars corresponding to' the guns, to becommunicated to the guns.

In order to enable the invention to be readily understood, 1 referencemade to the accompanying drawings, in which F1gll16 1 1s a generaldiagrammatic plan view in which A and B represent two guns, Z thetarget, C and D two observation telescopes and E the central station forautomatic control. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the telescope frame. Fig. 3is a diagrammatic plan view of the telescope frames, a gun andelectrical means connecting them with the automatic central controlstation. Fig. '-l is a part of the latter on a larger scale. Fig. 5 is adiagram of mechanism for controlling elevation.

In the diagram, Fig. 1, for the purpose .of simplifying the explanationof the principle of the invention, it is supposed to be 'possi- V ble toprovide rods (0, P, Q, R) between the central station and the guns andsight ing apparatus, which rods operate toothed wheels meshing withwheels on the guns and sighting apparatus. In practice, of course thedistance between the points will be too great to make such arrangementpossible.

In order to facilitate the understanding, the diagram shows anarrangement at the central station E, in which a and b are two rules orbars parallel to the guns A and B respectively; a and d are two otherrules or bars parallel to the telescopes C and D respectively. All therules or bars have a common point of intersection a at which they areconnected together by means of a pin or pivot. The bars are pivotallymounted at the points f, g, h, 1', respectively indicated on the drawingby circles and are movable longitudinally upon these pivotal mountings.The circles represent toothed or spur wheels, and the vertical pivots ofthe guns and of the telescopes have mounted thereon toothed Wheels F, G,H, I. These latter are respectively equal in size to the wheels at f, g,h and 2'. These eight toothed wheels 7, g, h, a, F, G,H, I, mesh withthe pihions or worms is, l, m, n, K, L, M, N, respectively, the axes ofwhich are interconnected in pairs by means of connections 0, P, Q, R,respectively, which connections may be of any kind capable oftransmitting synchronous movements between the actuatin and the actuateddevices.

Iiy the above arrangement of toothed wheels and their connections therules a and b are capable of operating the guns A and B, and thetelescopes C and D are capable of operating the rules 0 and (2. Now, if;

one telescope, for instance D, is turned through an angle X in order tofollow an object moving along the sight line CZ of the telescope C therule or bard will be.

moved through the same angle by the toothed wheels I, N, and n i, andthe rod by this movement the rule 0 will be caused: to sliderectilinearly but will not rotate, while the rules a and b willalsoslidegreca lines of the guns and of the telescopes D- and C willcontinue to intersect each other at the. position of the object ortarget. If the telescope C only be turned, in order'to follow an objectmoving along the sight line of the telescope D, the effect of thismovement is reproduced in the same manner in the central apparatus. Ifboth telescopes C and D are moved simultaneously, both bars 0 and (Zwill rotate in accordance therewith, the movement of the point ofintersection a: of the bars thus always reproducing on a reduced scalethemovement of the point of intersection of the sight lines of thetelescopes at which point is found the target Z.- Thus by a movement ofeither one of two telescopes, or by simultaneous movements thereof. oneor more guns is or are automatically trained onto an object or target.Not only is the traversing effected in this manner, however, but asthefulcrums of the bars have exactly the same relative positign as theguns and the telescopes, the amount of the sliding movement of the barsa and b will be a function or factor of the necessary elevation of theguns. By the present invention this movement is utilized to bring aboutthe elevation automatically.

In carrying out the invention the pinions or worms at the differentpoints are kept in constant rotation in such a manner that thosebelonging to the same set, namely, (/0 K), (Z L), (m M) or (n N)respectively, move synchronously under the action of synchronouslyrunning shafts, or, in preference, electromotors. By suitable means,such as electro-magnetic devices, said pinions or worms during adefinite period are coupled in pairs to the devices to be adjusted intoposition, the electromagnetic devices being controlled by contactdevices and one contact device being provided for every pair ofinterdependent electromagnets. In this respect the mode of control asregards the traverse and the elevation is the same.

The turning movement of the telescopes by means of the electricaldevices effects the sighting stations and the control station,

and at the latter bars 0 and 01 will perform angular movements preciselycorresponding to the angular movements of the telescopes C and Drespectively; also by this movement the power transmitting devicesappertaining to the bars a and b and to the guns A and Brespectivelywill-be actuated.

In the present instance two telescopes at .diiferent stations aresupposed to be made use of, but this is not necessary, as the inventionmay also be adapted for a single sighting station supplied with atelescope and with a range finder, the movements of which aretransferred to the central apparatus as corresponding angular. andlongitudinal movements of a bar. For this purpose the sighting stationmay be remote from the central station, or both stations may be togetheror in one. In the former case the movements of the range finder may betransferred to the bar on the "central apparatus by electrical means,but in the latter case by mechanical means.

The arrangement of mechanisms for transferring the movements of thetelescopes to the central apparatus and for transferring the movementsof the latter to the gun or guns will now be described. In Fig. 2, twosuperposed rectangular plates 1 and 2' are pivoted on a fixed verticalpin 3 and are capable of moving relatively to each other.

The upper one 1 of said plates supports or forms the base'plate of thetelescope, and the lower one 2 may be coupled to one of the synchronousmotors. The plate 1 has'a slot 4 through which projects a pin 5 mountedon the plate 2; 6 and 7 are contact levers pivoted at 8 and 9respectively, saidlevers being kept in normal position by springs 10,11, so as to bear against the stops 12 and 13. Two cont-act plates 14and 15 lie in the paths of their respective levers 6 and ,7. As shown inFig. 3 the plate 14 and lever 6 are connected in the circuit of one setof electromagnets while the plate 15 and'lever 7 are connected in thecircuit o f -a second set of electromagnets. If the telescopesC and Dare turned in one or the other direction one or other of thelevers 6 or7 on. the plate 1 in question will be deflected on its contact plate 14:or 15 respectively by means of the pin 5 on the lower plate 2, and closea circuit through the windings of corresponding-- sets ofelectromagne-ts at the telescope station in question and at the centralapparatus E. The electromagnets at the telescope stations will cause oneor the other synchro-v nously running'and reversible motive-power intowhich the plate 1 has been moved. Further, the correspondingelectromagnets at the central apparatus E will cause synchronouslyrunning worms m or m and n and n to be clutched in with toothed wheels kwill again assume its position in the middle of the slot 4 so that thecontact lever in question is moved away from its contact piece and thecutting out of the circuit for the' electromagetic clutches will takeplace simultaneously at the telescope and at the central apparatus.

The operation following the turning movements of the bars 0 and d is asfollows: From Figs. 3 and 4 it will be seen that all the bars areprovided with slots 20 and that from each pivot 22 a guide lug 21 of anob long shape projects through a respective "slot 20, so that the barscan slide on the pivots as aforesaid, (in order to simplify the drawingthe bar a is not shown). The bars a and Z) are connected by a pin 23with the bars 0 and (Z and this pin passes through a. hole in the bar c,in which it fits and through a somewhat elongated hole 24 in the bar d(see especially F i 4) in a similar manner as above describe? withreference to Fig. 2. At both sides of the pin are mounted contact levers25, 26, which are pivoted on pins 27 and 28 and are kept in normalposition by springs 29 and 30, so as to bear against stops 31 and 32. 33and 34 are contact pieces with which the ends of the levers 25 and 26respectively come into contact. When, through the movement of thetelescopes, the bars 0 and (Z commence their movement, the pin 23 willexert a pressure on one or the other of the contact levers 25 or '26,thereby causing that lever to move onto its respective contact plate or34 and close a circuit. A movement of the sighted object or targettoward the guns, corresponds to a turning movement of the bar 03 whichcauses the lever 26 on the right hand side to be constantly actuated bythe pin 23, and vice versa, for an increase of the range. A movement ofthe sighted object or target in any direction will immediately bereproduced by the pin 23, which moves accordingly. In order tofacilitate the movement of said pin, one of the bars a. or 'b' (forinstance the bar I) as shown in Fig. 3) has a screw 35 mounted thereonin bearings arranged at its ends at 36 and 37 and-passing through a nut38 mounted on the pivot 22. The circuit closed by one of the contacts 25or 26 will then, by means of one or the other of the rotating worms 16engaging a wheel 17 and by flexible means 18 cause the screw to beturned in one or the other directions so as to slide the bar 6 "just inthe same direction in which the pin 23 tends to move, and the contactlever actuated is thus brought back to its initial position in relationto the pin 23. As soon as this position is reached the circuit will beopened and the sliding movement of the bar I; will cease.

If more guns are to be directed automaiically toward the same target,more bars, such as a Fig. 1, ma be connected to the pin 23 and made capale of sliding longitudinally on pivots shaped in accordance with thepiv- V ots 22, as will be readily understood.

The angular movements of the bars a and 6 cause contact devices of thekind described with reference to Fig. 2 to be actuated. A plate 1 fixedat the top of the pivot 22 for the sliding bar in question as b, Fig. 3,carries contact levers 6 and 7, contact plates 14 and 15, while a lowerplate 2 with a pin 5 for the control of said levers and with a toothedwheel 9 surrounding said pivot is rotatable relatively to the same. Asliding'movement of the bar will have no effect on the contact device,but when said bar alsoturns, one or the other of said levers will bedeflected and close a circuit through the windings of electromagnets soas to cause corresponding sets of synchronously running worms Z or Z andL or L to engage toothed wheels 9 and G simultaneously at the centralapparatus and at the gun in question so as to impart to the guns A and Bangular movements exactly. corresponding to the movements of the bars aand I) respectively, as illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. l and in amanner similar to that described above.

The method of effecting the elevation will now be explained withreference to Fig. 5. which shows in side view a portion of the bar I)and a screw 35 mounted on the same. The screw passes through a slide-nut40 which is caused, by the rotation of the screw on the bar 6 to slide adistance exactly corresponding to the amount of movement given to thetelescopes in order to keep them directed upon the moving object ortarget, which is supposed to have shifted either toward or from theguns. The elevation of the gun is afunction of said distance, as hasbeen previously explained with reference to Fig. 1. On the slide isprovided a cam 41, the curvature of which represents said function, and42 is a sliding pin carried by a reciprocatory rack 43 and moved by therack into contact with the cam 41. The rack 43, in the arrangementshown, is suitably moved in guides 43 mounted on a support (not shown)carried by the bar 6. The lower end of the pin 42 is engaged by theshorter arm 44 of a contact lever 45, which is operated by its spring46, arrested by a stop 47 and movable over a contact piece 48 exactlytion and to the electro-magnet 50 of the gun B. The rack 43 meshes withthe spur-wheel 51. 52 is the synchronous shaft at the central station;The electro-magnet 49, spurwheel 51 and shaft 52 are convenientlymounted on the same support as are the guides 43 of the rack 43, and theshaft 52 is suitably driven from its synchronously running motor througha flexible coupling. The Worm 53 on the shaft 52 is normally kept out ofengagement with the spur-wheel 51 by the spring 54, and is brought intoengaging position by means of the armature 55.- The corresponding parts61, 62, 63, 64

and of the gun are arranged in a similar manner. A V

The operation is as follows :If the slide 40 is moved in the directionof the arrow, so that the cam 41 presses down the pin 42, the contactlever 45 is rotated so as to close the circuit. The consequence is thatthe magnets 49 and 50 are energized and the worms 53 and 63 on thesynchronous shafts 52 and 62 engage and so rotate their respective wheel51 and quadrant 61 that the wheel 51 will cause the rack 43 to be moveddown ward, and the contact lever 45 will soon be restored to its normalposition by its spring, unless the slide 40 continues its motion. Whenthe contact lever 45 has been restored to its normal position, it willinterrupt the circuit, and both worms 53, 63 will be simultaneouslymoved out of gear, and the gun will have been turned now to an extentdependent on the shape of the cam. As the slide 40 is only capable ofefiecting elevationthe cam '41, when depression as well as elevation isto be provided for, will have to be made double and to operate upon twocontact levers, each controlling a separate elec-- tric circuitcontaining electromagnets corresponding to 49 and 50. Instead of havingtwo levers, however, the lever 45 may also bearranged so as to becapable of performing a bilateral deflection on contact arcs on bothsides of zero. If the cam device (40, 41) then moves to the left(opposite to the direction of the arrow), the spring 46 will deflect thelever 45 to the right (the pin 47 being dispensed with) and establishcontact on this side. According to the direction of motion of the camdevice, the one or the other of the circuits will be closed, therebycausing rotation of synchronous shafts, both at the central station andat the gun, and thus elevating or depressing the gun, as the case maybe, and simultaneously moving the rack 43 downward or upwardrespectively, so as to bring the lever acted upon by the cam face backto the zero position at the proper moment. The synchronously runningshafts for effecting elevation will of course rotate in an oppositemanner to the respective shafts for effectingv depression.

I It is evident that the'cam of the elevation devlce is given a shape inWhich all the necessary corrections have been allowed for,

or the cam may be corrected by adjustment at any time. i

1. In a system orapparatus for elevating and traverslng guns, telescopesor sighting devices situated at suitable points, a central stationhaving bars corresponding in number and disposition with those of thetelescopes and the guns, and synchronously running so means controlledand operated from the sighting apparatus for positioning said bars, saidbars pivotally connected at a common point, and slidable over fixedpoints the positions of which correspond to the geograph- 1cal positionsof the telescopes and the guns, andme'ans controlled by said bars tocontrol the movement of the guns, whereby the angular movements of thetelescopes are communicated to the corresponding bars at'the centralstation and also the consequent angular motion of the bars correspondingtothe guns is communicated to the guns.

2. In an ordnance sighting system a telescope, having a revoluble base,a plate, a pivot between the base and p1ate,'a pin projecting through aslot in said base, two contact levers (6, 7) Whose shorter arms arespring held against said pin, and contact arcs in the paths of thelonger arms of said levers" when said arms are moved by the displacementof the plate when the telescope is rotated.

3. In an ordnance sighting system, the combination with a telescopebase, a plate, a pivot between the plate and base, a bar correspondingin direction to said base, synchronously operating means for moving saidplate and bar, and electric contacts, and contact levers on said base tocontrol the operation of said means. 1 v/ 4. In an ordnance sightingsystem, a sight-i ing instrument, guns distanced from the in-* strumentwhose lines of sight intersect that of the instrument, a bar pertainingto each gun and parallel therewith, a bar parallel with the instrument,said bars having a pivot common to all of them, and each bar being insliding connection with asepara'te pivot,.means to impart angularmovement from the instrument toits corresponding bar and therebyangularly position the bars pertaining to the guns, and means to impartequal angular movement fromthe latter bars to their pertaining guns.

5. In a combined range finding and automatic sighting and gun trainingsystem, a telescope having a pivoted base, a plate for supporting saidbase, a pin on the plate projecting through a slot in the base, a pairof 139 telescope base relatively to said plate, electric circuitsconnected with said levers and the contact pieces, electromagnets insaid circuits, a synchronized-motor at the telescope-station, a centralstation, a synchronized-motor and a bar at the central station, andcoupling and reversing means at each motor acted upon simultaneously bysaid electromagnets and actuating said pin carrying plate and said barrespectively as long as a contact lever is in contact with its contactpiece.

6. In a combined range finding and automatic sighting and gun trainingsystem, telescopes, guns distanced from the latter, a central controlstationhaving bars capable of longitudinal and rotary motion in ahorizontal plane through and around fixed points, a pin pivotallyconnecting said bars to each other at one point, one of said bars havinga slot, a pair of pivoted contact levers, means to keep the short armsof the latter against said pin, contact pieces disposed in the paths ofthe long arms of the contact levers motive power devices for thelongitudinal displacement of one of the bars, and electric circuitsconnecting the contact levers and the contact pieces withelectromagnetic clutches to control the operation of said devices.

7 In a combined range finding and automatic sighting and gun trainingsystem, a central station, a pivoted bar at said station slidablelongitudinally of its pivot, a base. on said pivot, a member rotatableon said pivot, a pin on said member projecting through a slot in thebase, a pair of pivoted contact levers on the base, means to keep theshort arms of the levers against said pin, contact pieces disposed inthe path of the long arms of the contact levers when the latter aremoved by. the displacement of the base relatively to said member,electric circuits connected with the contact levers and the contactpieces, electromagnets in said circuits, a synchronized motor at thecentral station, a synchronized motor at a gun, and coupling andreversing means at each motor, the gun acted upon simultaneously by thesaid electromagnets and actuating said pin carrying member and the gunrespectively as long as a contact lever is in contact with its contactpiece.

8. In a combined range finding and automatic sighting and gun trainingsystem,a central station comprising a set of bars capable oflongitudinal and angular motion in a horizontal plane, a slide having acurved guide displaceable along the bar corresponding to the gun, amember transversely movable on said bar, a contact lever on said memberarranged to be deflected by means of the curved guide when the slide andthe bar are longitudinally displaced relatively, a contact rail on saidmember in the path of said lever, a synchronized motor at the centralstation, a synchronized motor at the gun, and means whereby said motorsare coupled with the transversely movable member and the gun elevatingmechanism respectively, as long as the said contact lever is in contactwith said contact rail.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signedmy name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRIDTJOV ANDERSEN.

Witnesses:

H. E. GULLODENSEN, O. SCHIANDER.

